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Indonesia executes drug smugglers by firing squad

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Executions of eight out of nine convicts carried out despite plea by Australia to investigate judicial corruption.

A coffin bearing the body of Indonesian drug convict Zainal Abidin was buried in Cilacap several hours after his execution [AFP]

A coffin bearing the body of Indonesian drug convict Zainal Abidin was buried in Cilacap several hours after his execution [AFP]

by Al Jazeera

Indonesia has executed eight out of nine drug convicts by firing squad despite last-ditch appeals by Australia’s foreign minister for a stay of execution so that claims of corruption during the trials of two Australian prisoners could be investigated.

The executions were carried out after midnight (17:30 GMT) at Besi prison on Nusakambangan Island on Tuesday, after the inmates were given 72-hours notice.

Australia on Wednesday took the unprecedented step of recalling its ambassador to Indonesia in protest against the executions, in which two of its citizens, Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan, were killed.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott said the relationship with Jakarta “has suffered as a result of what’s been done over the last few hours”.

“These executions are both cruel and unnecessary. Cruel because both Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran spent some decade in jail before being executed, and unnecessary because both of these young Australians were fully rehabilitated while in prison,” Abbott told reporters in Canberra.

“We respect Indonesia’s sovereignty but we do deplore what’s been done and this cannot be simply business as usual,” he said.

Over the weekend, authorities had asked the nine convicts, which included four Nigerian men, one man each from Brazil and Indonesia and a Filipino woman for their last wishes.

However, the execution of Filipina Mary Jane Veloso was postponed at the last minute after someone suspected of recruiting her surrendered to police in the Philippines, the attorney general’s spokesman told the Reuters news agency late on Tuesday.

“The execution of Mary Jane Veloso has been postponed because there was a request from the Philippine president related to a perpetrator suspected of human trafficking who surrendered herself in the Philippines,” Tony Spontana, spokesman for the attorney general said.

“Mary Jane has been asked to testify.”

Earlier, Filipino migrants had rallied in Hong Kong on behalf of Velose – a 30-year-old mother of two whose  supporters said was tricked  into carrying a suitcase loaded with heroin.

Al Jazeera’s Step Vaessen, reporting from Cilacap in Indonesia, said while there was an outpouring of joy among Filipinos that Velose had been spared, there would be a different reaction from Australia after Jakarta rejected last-ditch pleas for clemency.

“The executions could cause a diplomatic fallout between Australia and Indonesia similar to earlier this year when the Netherlands and Brazil recalled their ambassadors after their nationals were killed,” she said.

Australia had mounted a sustained campaign to save its citizens, who have been on death row for almost a decade.

Chan and Sukumaran were the Australian ringleaders of the so-called “Bali Nine” heroin trafficking group whoe were arrested at the main airport on the holiday island in April 2005 for trying to smuggle 8.3kg of heroin to Australia.

The seven other members of the Bali Nine, all Australians, were jailed in Indonesia and did not face the death penalty.

White coffins

The families of the Australian convicts had paid an anguished final visit to their loved ones earlier on Tuesday, wailing in grief as ambulances carrying empty white coffins arrived at the prison.

Julie Bishop, Australia’s foreign minister, told media earlier in the day that she had asked for a stay in their executions, saying allegations in the Australian media that their judges had requested money to commute the death sentences were “very serious”.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo said that such concerns should have been conveyed a decade ago when the case went through the courts.

A former lawyer of the prisoners, Muhammad Rifan, told Australia’s Fairfax Media on Monday that Indonesian judges had requested more than $100,000 in return for prison terms of less than 20 years.

But Rifan said the judges later told him they had been ordered by senior legal and government members in Jakarta to impose a death penalty, so the deal fell through.

Among the condemned on Tuesday was Brazilian, Rodrigo Gularte, who had been diagnosed by Indonesian medics with schizophrenia.

Gularte, 42, was arrested in 2004 at a Jakarta airport after trying to enter the country with 6kg of cocaine hidden in a surfboard.

He was also sentenced to death in 2005.

Amnesty International condemned the executions saying they showed a “complete disregard for due process and human rights safeguards.”

“Some of the prisoners were reportedly not provided access to competent lawyers or interpreters during their arrest and initial trial, in violation of their right to a fair trial which is recognized under international and national law,” Rupert Abbott, Amnesty’s Research Director for Southeast Asia and the Pacific said.

“Gularte, had been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, and international law clearly prohibits the use of the death penalty against those with mental disabilities,” Abbott added.

Fourteen people have now been put to death in Indonesia this year, and the government has announced plans for further executions this year.

Indonesia set to execute drug smugglers

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Executions of nine drug convicts loom as Indonesia dismisses plea by Australia to investigate judicial corruption.

Indonesia

by Al Jazeera

Indonesia appears likely to press ahead with the executions of nine drug criminals on Tuesday, despite last-ditch appeals by Australia’s foreign minister for a stay of execution so that claims of corruption during the trials of the two Australian prisoners could be investigated.

The families of the Australian convicts paid an anguished final visit to their loved ones on Tuesday, wailing in grief as ambulances carrying empty white coffins arrived at their prison.

Julie Bishop, Australia’s foreign minister, told news media that she had received a letter from Indonesia on Monday night that offered no indication of a reprieve for Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan.

Earlier on Monday, she had asked for a stay in their executions, saying allegations in the Australian media that their judges had requested money to commute the death sentences were “very serious”.

The two are among nine drug convicts, mostly foreigners, who are due to be executed by a firing squad as soon as Tuesday night.

However, Indonesian President Joko Widodo said that such concerns should have been conveyed a decade ago when the case went through the courts.

A former lawyer of the prisoners, Muhammad Rifan, told Australia’s Fairfax Media on Monday that Indonesian judges had requested more than $100,000 in return for prison terms of less than 20 years.

But Rifan said the judges later told him they had been ordered by senior legal and government members in Jakarta to impose a death penalty, so the deal fell through.

Arrested in Bali

The members of the Bali Nine were arrested at the main airport on the holiday island of Bali in April 2005 for trying to smuggle 8.3kg of heroin to Australia.

The Indonesian authorities had been tipped off by Australia’s Federal Police.

The seven other members of the Bali Nine, all Australians, have been jailed in Indonesia but do not face the death penalty.

Armanatha Nasir, a spokesman for Indonesia’s foreign ministry, said Sukumaran and Chan had been given all the legal avenues to challenge their death sentences.

The country’s attorney-general’s office said the executions of all nine people on death row would proceed this week.

“I think it will happen this week as the preparations are 100 percent ready now,” spokesman Tony Spontana said.

The prisoners were handed 72 hours’ notice of their executions on Saturday, when representatives of their countries were also advised. Indonesia usually carries out executions at midnight.

The other seven who were informed at the weekend that they would face the firing squad are four Nigerians, an Indonesian, a Brazilian and a Filipina.

Spontana said a tenth prisoner, the Frenchman Sergei Atlaoui, would be spared for now as legal proceedings were still under way.

Among the condemned is a Brazilian man, Rodrigo Gularte, who has been diagnosed by Indonesian medics with schizophrenia, a mental illness.

Gularte, 42, was arrested in 2004 at a Jakarta airport after trying to enter the country with 6kg of cocaine hidden in a surfboard.

He was also sentenced to death in 2005.

Prison wedding

In Hong Kong, Filipino migrants ralied on behalf of Mary Jane Velose – a 30-year-old Filipina mother of two whose supporters say she was tricked into carrying a suitcase loaded with heroin.

Meanwhile, one of the Australians on death row, Andrew Chan, got married in the prison on Monday, his brother Michael Chan said after attending the wedding.

The marriage was Chan’s “final wish” granted by Indonesian prison authorities.

“Yes there was a celebration inside the prison this afternoon with close family and friends; it’s obviously a special occasion for them,” Michael said.

“Yes, look, it’s tough time but it’s happy time at the same time. We just hope that the president somewhere will find some compassion and mercy for these two, young couple so they can carry on with their lives.”

Indonesia executed six prisoners; from Brazil, Malawi, Nigeria, Vietnam, the Netherlands, and an Indonesian national, in January.

Despite U.N. treaties, war against drugs a losing battle

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Less than eight per cent of drug users worldwide have access to a clean syringe program. (Fahim Siddiqi/IPS)

Less than eight per cent of drug users worldwide have access to a clean syringe program. (Fahim Siddiqi/IPS)

by Thalif Deen, IPS News

As the call for the decriminalization of drugs steadily picks up steam worldwide, a new study by a British charity concludes there has been no significant reduction in the global use of illicit drugs since the creation of three key U.N. anti-drug conventions, the first of which came into force over half a century ago.

“Illicit drugs are now purer, cheaper, and more widely used than ever,” says the report, titled Casualties of War: How the War on Drugs is Harming the World’s Poorest, released Thursday by the London-based Health Poverty Action.

The study also cites an opinion poll that shows more than eight in 10 Britons believe the war on drugs cannot be won. And over half favor legalizing or decriminalizing at least some illicit drugs.

The international treaties to curb drug trafficking include the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, the 1971 Convention on Psychotropic Substances and the 1988 United Nations Convention Against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances.

But over the last few decades, several countries have either decriminalized drugs, either fully or partially, or adopted liberal drug laws, including the use of marijuana for medical reasons.

These countries include the Netherlands, Portugal, Czech Republic, Uruguay, Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Guatemala, Ecuador, Honduras and Mexico, among others.

According to the report, the governments of Mexico, Colombia and Guatemala seek open, evidence-based discussion on U.N. drugs policy reform.

And “both the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNAIDS not only share this view, but have called for the decriminalization of drugs use.”

Asked if the United Nations was doing enough in the battle against drugs, Catherine Martin, policy officer at Health Poverty Action, told IPS, “The problem is that the U.N. is doing too much of the wrong things, and not enough of the right things.”

She pointed out that an estimated 100 billion dollars worldwide is poured into drug law enforcement every year, driven by U.N. conventions on drug control.

“However, this approach hasn’t reduced drug use or managed to control the illicit drug trade. Instead, it keeps drugs profitable and cartels powerful (fueling corruption); spurs violent conflict and human rights violations; and disproportionately punishes small-scale drug producers and people who use drugs,” she added.

The report says UK development organizations have largely remained silent, while calls for drugs reform come from Southern counterparts, British tycoon Sir Richard Branson, current and former presidents, Nobel prizewinning economists and ex-U.N. secretary-general Kofi Annan.

The charity urges the UK development sector to demand pro-poor moves as nations prepare for the U.N. general assembly’s special session on drugs next year.

Many non-governmental organizations (NGOs), including British groups, have no lead contact or set process for participating in the session, says the report.

The report claims many small-scale farmers grow and trade drugs in developing countries as their only income source.

And punitive drug policies penalize farmers who do not have access to the land, sufficient resources and infrastructure that they would need to make a sustainable living from other crops.

Alternative crops or development programs often fail farmers, because they are led by security concerns and ignore poor communities’ needs, the report notes.

The charity argues the militarization of the war on drugs has triggered and been used to justify murder, mass imprisonment and systematic human rights violations.

The report stresses that criminalizing drugs does not reduce use, but spreads disease, deters people from seeking medical treatment and leads to policies that exclude millions of people from vital pain relief.

Less than eight per cent of drug users have access to a clean needle program, or opioid substitution therapy, and under four per cent of those living with HIV have access to HIV treatment.

In West Africa, people with conditions linked to cancer and AIDS face severe restrictions in access to pain relief drugs, amid feared diversion to illicit markets, according to the study.

Low and middle-income countries have 90 per cent of AIDS patients around the globe and half of the world’s people with cancer, but use only six per cent of morphine given for pain management.

Health Poverty Action states the war on drugs criminalizes the poor, and women are worst hit, through disproportionate imprisonment and the loss of livelihoods.

Drug crop eradication devastates the environment and forces producers underground, often to areas with fragile ecosystems.

Asked what the U.N.’s focus should be, Martin told IPS the world body should focus on evidence-based, pro-poor policies that treat illicit drugs as a health issue, not a security matter.

These policies must protect human rights and end the harm that current policies do to the poor and marginalized, she said.

“Drug policy reform should support and fund harm reduction measures, and ensure access to essential medicines for the five billion people worldwide who live in countries where overly strict drug laws limit access to crucial pain medications,” Martin said.

Meanwhile, the report says that drug policy, like climate change or gender, is a cross-cutting issue that affects most aspects of development work: poverty, human rights, health, democracy, the environment.

And current drug policies undermine economic growth and make development work less effective, the report adds.

Edited by Kitty Stapp

The writer can be contacted at thalifdeen@aol.com

Bolivia's Morales: U.S 'backs drug trafficking'

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evo-morales

by teleSUR

According to the Bolivian President, Washington “uses its War on Drugs to pursue its own geo-political agenda.”

The so-called War on Drugs pushed by Washington is just one of the many means that the United States uses to pressure and control governments in Latin America, according to Bolivian President Evo Morales.

“(U.S. government) uses its War on Drugs to pursue its own geo-political agenda and now they use it to accuse other governments and take them down,” Morales, one of the Latin American leaders who has most fiercely criticized U.S. policy in the region, told the Mexican newspaper La Jornada in an article published Monday.

“They even named me the ‘Andinean Bin Laden’ and accused us of being terrorists and drug traffickers and at the same United States is the top-nation that backs and benefits from drug trafficking,” the Bolivian president continued.

Morales, whose political career began as a coca leaf farmer, said that drug trafficking is one of the many ways that the U.S. government uses to impose its own agenda in the region.

“Drug trafficking seems like the big business of the capitalist system. (United States) is a very developed country, with a lot of technology and the one who consumes the most drugs. How is it that they cannot control drug trafficking?,” asked Morales. “I think the country that drives the drug trade is the U.S., it’s big business; the big, illegal business of the capitalist system.”

Since electing Morales as President in 2006, Bolivia has been in dispute with Washington the coca leaf production in the South American nation, which the country’s indigenous majority use for a range of non-narcotic purposes, including religious ceremonies.

The coca plant is considered sacred in several Andean countries.

Morales also slammed U.S. policy in the region, including the recent announcement by the Obama administration to impose diplomatic sanctions against Venezuela.

Morales urged all Latin American leaders to unite against U.S. imperialism. “Unity is the only way to guarantee a future in Latin America,” the Bolivian leader concluded.

Punjab minister Bikram Singh Majithia questioned by Enforcement Directorate in drugs case

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Punjab Minister Bikram Singh Majithia was questioned by the Enforcement Directorate in connection with alleged money laundering in a drug racket case. Photo: PTI

Punjab Minister Bikram Singh Majithia was questioned by the Enforcement Directorate in connection with alleged money laundering in a drug racket case. Photo: PTI

Jalandhar/NDTV: Punjab Minister Bikram Singh Majithia was today questioned by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with a multi-crore international synthetic drugs racket busted last year.

Mr Majithia, who is the younger brother of Union minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal who is married to of Punjab Deputy Chief Minister and Shiromani Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal, faces allegations of having links with certain non-resident Indians (NRIs) who have been accused of international money laundering related to the drugs racket.

The 38-year-old arrived around 11 am at the regional office of the ED in Jalandhar, 150 km from state capital Chandigarh.

The ED, a wing under the union finance ministry, had sent summons to Mr Majithia – the revenue minister in the Parkash Singh Badal government in Punjab – to appear before it today.

The Punjab police had busted a Rs. 6,000-crore international synthetic drugs racket in the state in 2013. The ED conducted separate investigations in the case after serious allegations of money laundering emerged.

Sources in the ED said that Mr Majithia is likely to be asked over 50 questions by officials regarding his links to three NRIs and the money laundering racket associated with the drugs case.

The Opposition had sought the minister’s resignation after he was summoned by the ED.

The Chief Minister, however, ruled it out.

Mr Majithia’s name had surfaced after Jagdish Bhola, a man arrested near Delhi last year for drugs trade, alleged in court that it was being run under the minister’s patronage and the full knowledge of the state police. The summons to him is based on the statements of Bhola and Bittu Aulakh, a local politician from Ajnala, who was also arrested for links with drug smugglers.

After the controversy broke, he was divested of the NRI Affairs portfolio and had to relinquish the post of the president of Youth Wing of the Akali Dal. Mr Majithia had denied the allegations.

370 die of drug clinical trials in India in 2 years

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Protesters outside the Bhopal Memorial Hospital and Research Centre. Photo: Sayeed Farooqui/Mint

Protesters outside the Bhopal Memorial Hospital and Research Centre. Photo: Sayeed Farooqui/Mint

New Delhi: At least 370 deaths have been reported during drug clinical trials in India since February 2013, while compensation has been paid in only 21 cases, said media Monday.

The Times of India quoted government data as saying of the 370 deaths, 222 or 60 percent cases have been examined so far by a regulatory panel on clinical trials, but only 21 were eligible for compensation as the drug under trial was found to have caused the deaths, said the report.

Pharmaceutical companies are targeting poor rural population for their drug trials, but there is a lack of government regulation to hold them responsible once the trial causes death, said experts.

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